3 Simple Reasons Why Youth Should be on Twitter

1.       No time for blogging? Micro-blogging is in!

While I post this article on my blog, an abstract of not more than 140 characters called tweet is bound to expand its reach. Prof Vaidyanathan, a IIM-B professor, has an amazing website called www.prof-vaidyanathan.com but only his presence on Twitter and personal interaction through “Direct Message” on Twitter led me to it. I share my academic pursuits with him now. The Indian politician with the maximum number of ‘followers’ on Twitter is Mr. Narendra Modi with 2.2 million followers, and you would be surprised to know that he follows me, among 670 others. What caught his attention about me on Twitter is difficult to ascertain but this proves one point – people care about your opinion and for the first time, it can reach those who can make a difference.

People have relied on diary writing to express themselves from time immemorial, few decades ago people starting blogging and now it is twitter. In fact I call my Twitter account as my personal diary – as it chronologically stores my events, news, my views, views of others that I re-tweet, - for future reference. The only difference is KISS (Twitter Keeps It Short & Sweet). In fact all of tweets ever tweeted in the world can be stored on a pen drive!

2.        Better your job perspectives!

Social Media has been gaining popularity with HR professionals, head hunters – for recruitment as well as employee engagement. A recent report by SHRM India, titled “Top 20 Indian HR Influencers on Social Media” revealed that the leading force for this transition is young, emerging workforce that is bold and more social than ever.

The compiled list includes experts, like Gautam Ghosh, GM, HR, Philips (31 tweets per day), Abhijit Bhaduri, CLO, Wipro (142 relies per 100 tweets), Anand Pillai, VP&CLO, Reliance Industries, Vineet Nayar, VC & Joint MD, HCL Tech (440 Retweets per 100 tweets), NS Rajan, Group Chief HR Officer, Tata Sons & Aadil Bandukwala, Recruitment & Product Consultant, LinkedIn India among others.

The compiled list is not limited to HR executives in big companies but also includes those individuals who are constantly generating ideas and creating and sustaining a buzz about the industry. There is lot of content dissemination happening on this platform, thus adding tremendous value for employee analysis, learning and training.

3.       Knowledge resource to form your opinion and make it heard!

We have all heard our grandparents and parents discussing politics in drawing rooms. Today any type of intelligent discussion is not to be restrained in four walls. News analysis, discussions, politics and media itself is debated upon on Twitter. Everyone knows social media played a key role in US elections for Barack Obama. The viral effect of social media is being harnessed by political parties even in India by organizing seminars for party workers on to how to conduct themselves on Social Media and training them to influence the growing number of influencers.

5-Steps to get started

1.       Create Login and password – Easiest steps of them all. You may chose to use your given name or even create a subject-specific account called “handle” (denoted by @____ )

2.       Start following people/handles on the basis of your interest – More the number you follow more the tweets on your home screen. Avoid following too many to avoid a deluge that leads to missing tweets from important people. You may of course, “unfollow” any one you have followed at anytime. Do not restrict yourself to media houses, journalists, business people, social workers, politicians can give you views from all quarters, to develop your own opinion.

3.        Every Character Counts – You can get started by expressing practically anything or by simply replying to another’s tweet. Restricting it to 140 characters may not come easily but will not be too difficult as we are all used to the sms language, though try to be lucid. You can tweet more effectively by:

a)      Using # (hashtag) to create or participate in a trend, as # defines the common thread lots of people tweet about – making it a trend.

b)      Using @ (handle) of different people on twitter to involve others in a conversation.

Remember your tweet is seen on your profile, but will not appear on another person’s profile till he/she re-tweets

c)       Using photos/links/graphs to prove your point

4.       Know the slang – Some of the commonly used terminology on twitter is:

a)      RT – Retweet

b)      MT – Modified Tweet

c)       FF – Friday Follows (when you recommend handles to your followers to follow)

d)      MMS – Dr. Manmohan Singh

e)      DM – Direct Message

f)       IMO – In my opinion

….you will discover lots more as you start.

5.       Avoid trolling, foul language, disclosing too many personal details while on Social Media.